Horace Suchet

Horace Suchet (1740-) was Secretary of War under the Republican Consulate of France during the French Revolution.

Biography
Horace Suchet was born in Lyon, France in 1740 to a family of aristocrats, and he served in the French Army during the Seven Years' War. Suchet had a harsh reputation, and he was known to be a ruthless drill instructor while serving in the army. After the war's end, he decided to become a writer, and he often wrote about the need for a democratic military in order for the general to command his men and get them to obey his every order. Suchet became a staunch republican during the 1780s, and he became Secretary of War under the Republican Consulate after the French Revolution succeeded in 1789. Suchet was the man responsible for dividing the French military into several named armies, organizing these armies by the region that they were meant to cover. Suchet was disliked by the masses for his harsh reputation, but he managed to revitalize France's military during the French Revolutionary Wars.